TEHRAN – In the first half of the current Iranian year that started on March 20, the country has exported medicines worth $104.6 million, an increase of 19.7 percent year on year.

The exports amounted to 49,400 tons in volume, showing 15 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Customs Administration.

Some 345 companies have been involved in producing medicines, supplements, and raw materials, as well as importing pharmaceuticals in the six-month period of time.

Pharmaceutical companies have imported a total of 54,800 tons of commodities worth 1.1 billion dollars, indicating a 3.76 percent decrease in amount and 4.5 percent increase in terms of value compared to the same period last year, IRNA reported.

FDA plans to increase medicine exports by 30%

In June, Seyyed Ali Maboudi, an official with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the FDA is developing a plan to increase pharmaceutical exports by 30 percent in the mid-term.

“In the past years, medicine exports in Iran accounted for a small share of non-oil exports. However, over the past year, it experienced a growing trend,” IRNA quoted Maboudi as saying.

The official went on to point out that the exports of raw materials and pharmaceutical products over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2023-March 2024) were valued at more than 100 million dollars.
“The Food and Drug Administration is planning to double the medicine exports in the short term and tenfold in the long term,” the official added.

Given the impacts of drugs on the health of society in all countries, they are one of the most complicated types of goods to export as they require registration and quality approvals in each destination country, Maboudi stressed.

Knowledge-based companies manufacturing medications

Some 600 medical equipment companies are active in the country, producing around 99 percent of the medicine supplied to the domestic market. Medical equipment manufacturers in the country produce and supply over 10,000 types of medical equipment to domestic and foreign markets. Now, various pieces of laboratory equipment are manufactured at prices much lower than the same foreign products.

Iranian knowledge-based companies have succeeded in producing recombinant drugs which are mainly used for treating hard-to-treat diseases such as cancers, MS, hemophilia, and viral diseases.

Medical equipment worth around $20 million is exported to more than 60 countries annually, according to Iran’s Union of Medical Equipment Manufacturers and Exporters.

More than 70 percent of medical equipment and 100 percent of normal hospital beds are domestically made.

Also, over 95 percent of specific ICU and CCU beds and more than 85 percent of operating room medical equipment such as anesthesia machines and other equipment are manufactured with cutting-edge technology in the country.

Over 60 countries import Iranian medical equipment

On January 13, the head of Iran’s Union of Medical Equipment Manufacturers and Exporters said that medical equipment worth around $20 million is exported to more than 60 countries annually.

More than 70 percent of medical equipment and 100 percent of normal hospital beds are domestically made, IRNA quoted Abdolreza Yaqoubzadeh as saying.

Also, over 95 percent of specific ICU and CCU beds and more than 85 percent of operating room medical equipment such as anesthesia machines and other equipment are manufactured with cutting-edge technology in the country, he added.

Yaqoubzadeh went on to say that the country's need for medical equipment production is three to four billion dollars per year, some one billion dollars of which is imported.

MT/MG